Wanderlei Silva and Rampage and Bellator and Our Eternal Sadness

You may not know this, but there is no kindness the passage of time visits upon an aging fighter. The years go by, the fighter’s physical attributes diminish, and when he steps proudly into the cage – as he’s done many a time before – he’s reminded that he isn’t young and we’re reminded that this is a cruel sport.

This is true of every fighter who gets old, but it’s especially true of Wanderlei Silva, who fought in the UFC back when SEG owned it, became a superstar in PRIDE FC, and saw the last burning embers of his ability smolder and die out in the UFC for another run. In other words, our hero of yore is a concussion waiting to happen.

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Of course, Bellator boss Scott Coker is fine with that. He sees that “The Axe Murderer” has name recognition, and name recognition with fans means more people tuning in. Thus far, Coker has rung out a few more drops of blood from everyone from Fedor Emelianenko to Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock. Ugh. And now it appears we met get a rematch between Silva and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Just to refresh your memory, Silva and Rampage fought twice in PRIDE and once in the UFC. Silva crushed Rampage in PRIDE; Jackson crushed him in the UFC years later. Even more years have passed since then – how do you think Silva is going to do?

Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton Jackson in September? It’s a done deal, at least according to the Brazilian.

Silva posted a video on his Facebook page on Wednesday saying that Bellator officials have reached out to him offering a main event clash with “Rampage” in a yet-to-be-announced card in California on Sept. 29.

”Like people say, it’s very hard for a good professional to retire,” Silva said. “I just got a call from Bellator inviting to be part of the Sept. 29 (card) against Quinton Jackson in the main event in California. It’s our fourth bout, I won two of the first three, so it’s 2-1 for me.”